SAARC Live: The future I wish for India is the future I wish for our entire South Asia, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Kathmandu: The 18th SAARC summit on Wenesday began in Kathmandhu, Nepal with an aim to revitalise the regional grouping and make it a major platform to fuel economic growth through liberalised trade and combat challenges of terrorism and climate change effectively. However, the speculations are still making rounds over the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.

Addressing the SAARC summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, ” The future I dream for India is the future I wish for our entire region. Nowhere in the world are collective efforts more urgent than in South Asia; and, nowhere else is it so modest.

Adding that this was his first SAARC Summit but for the second time he was meeting most of them together, Modi said, “I have travelled the world from the middle of the Pacific to the Atlantic I see a rising tide of integration. There is much to learn from each other, even more – to do together.

Modi further said, “India and Bangladesh have deepened their links through rail, road, power and transit. India and Nepal have started a new era of cooperation in energy and, India and Bhutan are making those ties stronger by the day. With Sri Lanka we have transformed trade through a Free Trade Agreement. We will soon launch a new arrangement to meet Maldives’ need for oil.”